Senior Philanthropic Advisor

About the East Bay Community Foundation

Founded in 1928, EBCF is one of the nation’s first community foundations. Named the country’s “boldest” community foundation in 2019 by Inside Philanthropy, EBCF is committed to advancing an inclusive, fair, and just East Bay through four core program strategies:

• Arts and Culture for Social and Racial Justice: Storytelling, the arts, and cultural practices havealways been important tools for survival, healing, and resistance. These creative expressions build community resilience and power and give voice, agency, and visibility to communities most harmed by oppression.
• Capacity Building with a Racial Equity Lens: EBCF is helping to strengthen organizations and the people who lead them, working to change systems in communities that have historically received little support. We want to ensure that organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.
• Community Organizing, Power Building, and Movement Building: We believe that social movements led by communities most impacted by injustice are the most effective drivers of change. We resource BIPOC-led and serving power-building organizations
• Fostering Inclusive Economic Models: We address racial and economic inequities in our region through work in three areas– entrepreneurship & business ownership as pathways to wealth building; workers’ rights and protections; and impact investing.

With a geographic focus on Alameda and Contra Costa counties, EBCF works so that everyone has the economic freedom to dream, heal, and belong. We advance our work through leadership, grantmaking, impact investing, and building solidarity between donors and community. We commit to deploying all our resources in service of our mission and pushing beyond industry norms to offer uniquely impactful opportunities for our fund advisers to build A Just East Bay for all. EBCF manages more than 500 funds, with total assets in excess of $600M. These funds include donor-advised scholarships, field of interest, supporting organizations, and agency endowments.

Joining EBCF means a commitment to advancing racial equity and transforming political, social, and economic realities. We will do this by creating spaces that center joy and opportunities for dreaming and reimagining a future for all who call the East Bay home to have the freedom to thrive for generations to come.

For more information on the East Bay Community Foundation, please visit ebcf.org.

About the Opportunity

The Senior Philanthropic Advisor is responsible for forging new relationships to build EBCF's visibility, impact, and financial resources. This unique opportunity is comprised of two complimentary areas: leading the Professional Advisor Leadership Council (PALC) and successfully stewarding a portfolio of donors in service of EBCF’s mission of advancing a Just East Bay.

The Senior Philanthropic Advisor will work diligently to identify, pursue, engage and ultimately secure new Professional Advisor partnerships. The Senior Philanthropic Advisor will play a key role in driving revenue growth while expanding and diversifying our partner base. Additionally, the Senior Philanthropic Advisor will own a portfolio of major donors with a primary goal of securing new six-figure support for EBCF’s work and provide philanthropic advising. The ideal candidate will have a unique set of skills and experiences, combining a social justice analysis with an entrepreneurial mindset, fundraising prowess, excellent customer service, and strong networking skills.

The Senior Philanthropic Advisor will report to the VP of Philanthropy and work closely with the other members of a joyful Development team.

The Team

We are a hardworking, playful, fast-paced team of professionals who share a sense of humor, a positive attitude, and a low ego high output mindset. We supported EBCF to raise more than $150 million for local social justice work and see huge potential for growing our impact in the region and beyond.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Strengthen and expand EBCF’s Professional Advisor Leadership Council (PALC), by growing our network, developing relationships with, and supporting professional advisors, who work with high-net-worth individuals, and position EBCF as a trusted partner for philanthropic investment in the East Bay.
• Manage quarterly PALC events, regular messaging (newsletters), and one-on-one meetings.
• Manage a portfolioof fund advisors and PALC members (150) with a primary goal of bringing in new six-figure gifts to complement EBCF’s fundraising strategies.
• Provide philanthropic advising to DAF advisors, with the goal of grounding giving in social justice values and prioritizing community needs.
• Develop and execute donor stewardship plans, monitoring and tracking progress of clear financial targets that support EBCF’s business growth.
• Partner with teams across EBCF, including Donor Services & Administrative Support, Community Investments & Partnerships, and Marketing & Communications, to fulfill donors’ charitable goals in service of EBCF’s mission.
• Help deepen and advance a concrete organization-wide strategy and structure around reimagining EBCF’s relationship with donors, centered around racial justice, community-led decision-making, and courageously addressing power and privilege within spaces of wealth.

Core Competencies to Thrive in the Role

• Passion for the mission of EBCF to advance A Just East Bay.
• Superlative interpersonal skills and ability to cultivate networks and build relationships with a wide range of people. Confident and excited to build trust with people, listen, ask questions, respond to feedback, and build authentic relationships around the issues they care about, with a goal of activating those interests towards EBCF’s community partners and leaders.
• Results-oriented: Someone who gets it done, and is determined, creative, and solutions oriented.
• Creativity & willingness to learn: Excitement for and experience developing and executing new business strategies, testing bold approaches towards philanthropy, and centering donor experiences and learning, while appreciating, learning from, and building on EBCF’s rich history and tried-and-true models. Solicits and welcomes contributions from staff at all levels in the organization towards successfully building relationships with our donors.

Core Professional Skills and Experiences to Thrive in the Role

• 5+ years of fundraising experience with demonstrated experience increasing donor giving or sales over time and securing six-figure gifts.
• Cultivating networks and business development using superlative interpersonal skills.
• Financial planning knowledge, including: ability to read and interpret investment reports and discuss investment strategies, and navigate conversations around wealth management, estate planning, and charitable giving strategies, including donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and private foundations.
• Strong project management: A strong track record of creating work plans, setting measurable goals and targets, balancing multiple tasks and projects, and meeting deadlines; strong administrative acumen and excellent attention to detail. Comfort with effectively communicating about progress.
• Excellent persuasive communication skills (written, visual, oral).

The Ideal Candidate will have:

• Knowledge of and relationships in the East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties), particularly around philanthropy and its social justice landscape.
• Experience working on fundraising campaigns and securing five and six-figure gifts.
• Experience working with individual donors and families (especially major donors), particularly around issues of wealth and social justice values.
• Belief in the importance of mobilizing and organizing donors to become powerful participants and allies in local social justice movements; an ability and interest to engage in potentially challenging conversations around intersectional identities like class, race, power and privilege with people with wealth.
• Experience stewarding donors with Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), or experience working at a DAF provider (e.g. a community foundation or other philanthropic advising institution).
• Knowledge of and relationships with professional advisors in the Bay area such as professional advisors, nonprofit advisors, financial planners, wealth managers, accountants, insurance agents, attorneys, and other advisors.
• A positive attitude, a high degree of initiative, collaboration, and flexibility, as well as the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and identify new and creative solutions
• An openness, fluency, and comfort in talking about oppressions such as racism, sexism, and classism, and an understanding of how their own experiences and background relate.

Racial Equity Competencies

Understanding and Applying Racial Equity

Demonstrate commitment to building or deepening the understanding of racial equity:

• Using core terms and concepts such as structural racism, white privilege, and anti-Blackness;
• The role that racial inequity has played and continues to play in our society;
• How race impacts supervisory relationships, team dynamics, and organizational culture;
• How personal/implicit/unconscious bias affect decision-making;

Working for Racial Equity

• Consistently assess structural implications and racially disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions within the context of their job responsibilities; race/ethnicity, intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, identity, and/or sexual orientation;
• Consistently adhere to organization’s racial equity policies and procedures, including those that relate to hiring, retention, and promotion;
• Consistently identify and disrupt ways in which bias plays out in work and/or team;

Leading on Racial Equity

• Effectively encourage people to have honest conversations about racial equity, and accept feedback openly, non-defensively, and from a posture of learning.
• Consistently address structural implications and racially disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions by identifying and implementing changes that can produce more equitable outcomes. This applies not only in terms of race/ethnicity, but also at the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender identity, and/or sexual orientation.
• Consistently set racial equity outcomes, goals, and performance measures for team, department, or organization, and develop and successfully implement plans to achieve them.

Location and Schedule

This full-time position, in a hybrid environment, will require working onsite (200 Frank H. Ogawa, Oakland) for several days per week, depending on job duties and agency requirements. It may also include occasional local travel to and from partner organizations, businesses, and donors. Occasional evenings and weekends will be required for supporting events and networking.

About the Application Process

To apply, please email a combined PDF or Microsoft Word File of a cover letter and resume to jobs@eastbaycf.org. Please use the subject line: EBCF Senior Philanthropic Advisor. Applications will be reviewed as they are received.-

The East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) is an equal-opportunity employer committed to racial justice and equity. EBCF does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law and is an employment-at-will organization. The Foundation welcomes and encourages people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and members of other historically disenfranchised groups to apply.

Research has shown that women and people from marginalized groups may not apply for a role if they aren't a 100% match. Please don't hold back. If you think you will excel in this role, but perhaps you don’t tick every box, we'd appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.